Peru Travel Forum

Any1 coming from Edmonton to Cusco Perů?

Hello

I am planning to do the Salkantay Trail, would like to start ideally on 29th September or 1st or 2nd October and I am looking for other travellers interested to join me and register/book or to provide feedback (including the agency who organised it). I have Llama Paths and Enigma in mind but maybe someone else has another recommendation? As I am not too flexible with the dates, I would like to book already before I arrive in Cusco, to be sure that the hike takes definitely place on any of the 3 dates. Or does someone know whether during that period there are always hikes on that trail and no need to book ahead?
Any feedback is highly appreciated!
Warm regards from Geneva!
Sylvia

hi there, i was wondering if anyone knows a good dropzone in peru, i doubt one would be allowed to drop over the nazca lines? any help would be awesome, will be in peru from aug 22-sept 15
gracias!

Hi there! I'm heading to Iquitos in the next few days and I'm wondering if anyone wants to meet up to travel together, or just to hang out? Right now I'm in Arequipa, and either tomorrow or Tuesday I'll get a bus to Lima, and then hopefully the day after I arrive I'll get a flight to Iquitos. I'm a 36 year old Australian guy, have been in Latin America for two years, and will spend I don't know how much time in and around Iquitos (depends on how much I like it!) before heading down river into Brazil for the next six months. Let me know if our plans match up at all.
Cheers, Nev

I am hiking the Inca Trail and have been given the opportunity to spend an extra night in A. C.. Is it worth it to stay an extra night and perhaps to go back to see Machu Picchu a second day?

I will be staying in Cusco for a bit before I hike the Inca Trail. Should I bring my own PowerBars, trail mix etc or can I buy all of that cheaply in Cusco?

If you were taking your 70 yr old mum for 7 days in cusco/machu picchu what would you suggest as she can't hike or bike .I want to make this experience wonderful for her so i am not sure how hamy days in each place would be best recommended...A day trip there just seems too quick to take all it in, so maybe an overnight tour would be best???

I am taking my mum on a short 2.5 weeks to south america from australia and have decided on 5 nights in argentina,2 nights in lima and then have 6 nights to work out what i am going to do.She is 70 yrs old so hiking and biking is out of the question but she would love to go to machu picchu.If you were bringing your mum of that age what do you suggest in terms of 7 days cusco/machu picchu...A day trip there just seems too short by reading all the forums!!!!

Hola,

I am going to Peru in September, I will be spending 16 days there before heading on to La Paz. I will fly into Lima & spend the night, before heading to Puerto Maldonado for a few days, and then to Machu Picchu (4 days) and Lake Titicaca.

Anyway, my question is: what would be the best way to bring my money, especially considering I will be continuing on to Bolivia, Argentina, possibly Chile, and Brazil. Should I bring US dollars? the local currency? a mixture? Since the first two weeks are on an organised trip, I don't anticipate that I will spend too much except on food or small souvenirs.

Also, which is the most convenient major currency I could bring to convert to local currencies while in South America? US dollars or euro?

Cheers,
Paddy

Hi, I will be arriving in Lima July 30th. I am a female and alone, and was hoping to find a fairly cheaper place to stay. I am backpacking and am fine with back packers type places. Any advice is very appreciated.
P.S. I arrive at night, so hopefully there will also be an airport pickup option.

I'm going to travel to Peru for about 6 weeks in August or September of this year. Assuming the flight is $700 round trip, and my budget for 6 weeks is $1300, will $2000 be enough for everything?

Some details... the first month will be in cheap lodging, about $25-30 / week while volunteering. In general, I will try to be economical while still seeing the main sites.

Thanks!

My husband will be working in Lima Peru for 10 days and I will be going along but on vacation. Is it safe for an english speaking female knowing no spanish to be travelling alone? What type of guided day trips are available? I would prefer to be sightseeing with other vacationers rather than alone. Any suggestions? After reading about Lima on the internet it has made me a little apprehensive. Should I go to Lima and travel through the day on my own???? Would appreciate advice from people who have visited Lima and their suggestions. Thanks, Cheryl

My parents want to go to visit Peru but they are planning on staying for a month.
Anyone knows a good, safe and cheap hotel in Lima???
They are in their 50's and planning to stay 1 week in Lima and 2 to 3 weeks in Cusco.
Have anyone been in any of these hotels? http://www.cuscoperu.com/cusco/hotels-accommodations/041-accommodations-hotels-cusco.php and what about Cusco? do you know any of these http://wikitravel.org/en/Cuzco? Or maybe another one?

Thanks

Hello,
Can anyone tell me if it is advisable to do whitewater rafting in Urubamba during the months of June/July ? I understand that it is the dry season so I'm not sure if there's enough rapids for a whitewater rafting trip...

Thanks...
Maria

Hi fellow travelers…

I finally manage to organize a 3 weeks (September 2009) trip to Peru –planned 2 years ago.

The itinerary (<the classic >) looks like the one bellow (the best for our interest/money/time).

Any critic, observation and suggestion will be more than welcome.

Lima (3days)
Lima-Nazca by bus/overnight in Nazca
Nazca / Chauchilla Cemetery/ evening or overnight bus to Arequipa
Arequipa (3 days)
Arequipa to Puno by bus, overnight in Puno
Uros & overnight on Amantani (2 days/1 night)/ back to Puno overnight
Puno to Cuzco
Cuzco overnight
Bus or taxi to Olla/ train to AC/overnight in AC
Machu Picchu /evening back to Cuzco
Cuzco and the sacred valley (5 days)
Cuzco to Lima to Montreal

Although I’ve read a lot of reviews, trip reports, guide books etc (maybe not enough?) I still have some questions and inquiries that are bugging me; for that matter any help or experience will be used @ maximum…

1)Is it possible to avoid the overnight in Puno? Is there any night bus Arequipa-Puno? The same question for the route Puno to Cuzco…
2)Is there any other possible chance to visit Uros & Amantani avoiding Puno/Juliaca?
Maybe contacting a local-is there anyone trustworthy and English speaker? I would rather pay a local than a travel agency.
3) I was thinking to try a short day trip to Tiwanaku –Bolivia (no overnight stay) from Puno (if I have to spend some time there).Did anyone try this: taxi rental for a day or…?
4)For the train to Machu Picchu, should I really book the backpacker train (Olla-AC and AC-Cuzco) from now and here? What about the accommodation in Cuzco and AC especially AC, should I book in advance or it can be done upon arrival?
5)Once in Cuzco I was thinking to rent a 4x4 and do small daytrips through the Sacred Valley.I have seen a lot of people discouraging the others to drive in Peru…is the same around Cuzco and Sacred Valley? Am I nuts or is better to stick to the safe-non driving policy?

Thanks for your patience (it is a looong post).


Cheers,

Aloort

Hey, me and my 12 year old son will be traveling to Cuzco this coming August and have three possible places to stay. Since I am not familiarized with the area it would be great to get some feedback

Hotel/Hostal Koyllur (San Blas) - I read many reviews about things being stolen there.

Rey Antares Mystic Hotel (Next to the Cuzco Train Station)- I really like this hotel but they are located right in front of the Mercado San Pedro (Central) - How dangerous is this?

Hotel/Hostal Loreto (Located on the Main Square)- is this more of a backpacker Hostel or am I good with my 12 year old?

I would really appreciate some help before I book any hotel -

Best,

JC

I am taking the Vistadome train from Ollanta up to AC/MP for 2 nights, and have heard conflicting stories on luggage storage. Does anyone have any info on whether or not you can bring luggage on the train (and how much it costs if so), or if there are safe/secure storage lockers at Ollanta train station?

Thanks,
Ben

Hi guys just wondering if anyone had travelled from lima to santa cruz in Bolivia over land and if they could give me any tips? I was planning to do this in a week, does that sound like enough time? Also are there any night buses along this route that are worth taking?
Thanks, Carly x x

We're planning our trip to Peru next October and have one question about the train that we have to take from Cuzco to MP.

I thought there were often trains covering the distance between these two cities, but when I now look at the website of Peru Rail, I see there don't seem to be direct trains between Cuzco and MP anymore, but they seem to leave from Poroy and - according the site - there are now only 3 three trains per day, all leaving early in the morning (too early to connect with the nightbus) :
VISTADOME 06:57 09:52 $71.00 S/.227.20
BACKPACKER 07:42 10:51 $48.00 S/.153.60
HIRAM BINGHAM 09:00 12:25 $334.00 S/.1,068.80

Can you help me out ? We're arriving in the morning on the nightbus from Arequipa and intend to go during the day to Aguas Calientes in order to go to MP the next day.

Hi,
Here are a few more miscellaneous questions I have for my trip. I am hoping to include some flexibility in my travels, as I really don't know what to expect, and how much time it will take me to cover each site. Is it important to book hostels, bus tickets, tours, etc, ahead of time, or will I be able to do those things the day they are needed? It internet access easy to find for help with planning once I am down there?

Also, would you recommend that I bring all of my luggage in a backpack that I should carry at all times, or can I safely leave a suitcase in a hostel somewhere? I am mostly thinking of excursions such as Macchu Picchu, and hiking. I certainly don't want to be held back by having to carry luggage around, but don't want to have to worry about retrieving it either. Thanks!

Hi,
I am planning a trip to Peru, hopefully in August of this year. For the first month I will volunteer to teach English in Huanchaco or Trujillo. Then I plan on taking a bus back to Lima and being more of a tourist, seeing Macchu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, and some other options. Here is a list of ideas:

Buses from Lima to Ica, Arequipa, Puno, Copacabana, La Paz, and Cusco.
OR, fly from Lima to Cusco, and bus back the opposite way and back to Lima.

-How much time would you recommend for each place including travel time? Is two weeks enough for my tourist time?
-Is it worth detouring to Bolivia to see La Paz?
-I'm 22, male, and will look to travel on a budget rather than luxury - how much do you think I would need for each site?
-Assuming I get my mountains and scenery in around Cusco and Puno, is it worth going to Arequipa for the Colca Canyon?

Hopefully that's not too much for one question! Thanks!

Does anybody travelled from Santiago de Chile to Machu Picchu ?
What route and how would you recommend there ? What route would you recommend in my back from Machu Piccu. Generally I have not got too much time. Maybe it is worth to go via plane from Santiago to any local airport near Machu Picchu ?

We are looking for 4 persons for a 8 days trip between Cusco to Pongo de Mainique. A trip into the jungle of Sacred Valley. The price is good (120 dollards) with a guide, food, and hostal/camping. Some tourists did this trip and they said its incredible. We are 2 french yet and we need 4 persons more to share this adventure. Date: 01/07/09 to 08/07/09.
For more details, contact me.
Charlie

We are 65 and 70 and planning a trip to Peru this fall. We are in good health but a bit concerned about the altitude. What can we do now to prepare ourselves for it?

I am having some difficulty finding out about night busses in these areas. For puno, i have only found 3-m express out of chivay leaving at 1:30 pm daily, and with puno to cuzco, i have only found inkaexpress, which takes 10 hours and is too touristy and long for our tastes. If you can help us, it would be greatly appreciated.

Hello! I'm looking into planning a trip to Peru this August for approximately 10 days. I'd like to fly into Cusco and spend 2-3 nights, rail to Machu Picchu for the hike, then back to Cusco for the remainder of the trip.

As previously mentioned, I'm in the early part of this process. I've been googling different travel agencies, etc. Has anyone recently planned a trip and found an efficient, cheap, friendly and easy agency to use? Also - anyone care to share an estimate of what kind of $$ I'd be looking at for this trip? Round trip flight from Tx to Cusco (looks like ~$1000 online), $$ for Machu Picchu trip, and $$ for hotel a hotel room for approximately 5 nights, depending on how many nights we camp for Machu Picchu? Fyi no habla espanol, so I would probably need to pay an english-speaking guide for the Machu Picchu hike...

Thanks in advance for the help!

Aloha everyone, I'll be traveling to Cusco/AC/MP in August with my girlfriend. Our plan is to arrive in AC in the evening, get up early the next day at 5am to make the first bus and hike Huayna Picchu, enter MP and visit the ruins, exit to eat lunch/use the restroom (since I've read there are no facilities inside), then re-enter after lunch for a few more hours.

Does anyone know if the entrance fee is good for the entire day, or do I need to buy multiple tickets?

Thanks for your help, Ben

A couple of friends and I are heading to Peru in Sept and plan to head down to Ica/Huacachina for one night (2 days including travel time) before heading back to Lima. It's short, but we're short on time. We would like to take a Nazca tour from Ica. I thought I had read somewhere that you could do the tour right from there in terms of flying out of Ica, over the lines and then back to Ica, but now I can't seem to find any information along those lines. Everything seems to have you driving to Nazca and leaving from the Nazca airport. As we are so short on time, it would be great to just be able to hop on a plan in Ica and return there. Any of the organized tours from Lima there and back seem to be quite pricey, and figured it should be easy enough to do that sort of thing on our own.

Does anyone know of tours like this? And are they something easy to book once we get to Ica? Any info on the best way to do all this would be great.

We will probably plan to take the 7am bus there and get there around noon (from what I can tell). Hoping to stay in or near Huacachina (any suggestions?), and also hoping to be able to go up to the dunes and maybe visit a winery if time permits. Trying to get a grasp on how long the Nazca trip will take. We will then hope to take the latest bus back to Lima so we can fly to Cuzco the next day.

Help!

I am looking for someone to do a private tour of the scared valley. Ideally myself and two traveling mates would be picked up in Cusco and driven to areas of the Sacred Valley and allow time to get out, walk around etc. Ideally the guide would be knowledgeable and fluent in English. I’d prefer not to do the big mass bus tours.

Does anyone know of a company or indivdual they can reccomend? is it best just to arrange it with our hotel?

Any estimate of the cost?

Hi Guys-
I have a couple of questions regarding Cusco as well as Machu Picchu.

1. I am looking at an arrival into Cusco's airport at 8:55am (i leave Lima at 7:40am) If I were to take a taxi to Ollanta, could I make a 12:36pm train to M.P.? That would give me roughly 3 and a half hours to get to Ollanta from Cusco's airport.

2. Is it easy to get a taxi from Cusco's airport? Roughly how much would it be from Cusco directly to Ollanta's train station?

3. If I purchased my train ticket online couldnt I just pick up the actual tickets at the Ollanta station? That way I could go directly from the airport to the train station without making a bunch of uneccessary stops?

4. Tickets for Machhu Pichhu...there will be 3 of us. We plan to arrive in A.C. in the afternoon and stay overnight and do MP the next morning. Could we buy our entrance tickets to MP the day before? I.E. we arrive at 2pm on Sunday, could we buy or entrance tickets to MP Sunday afternoon and then go to MP first thing monday morning?

5. Also, when we return from Cusco, I would prefer to fly back to Lima later in the day. There is a 3pm flight on LAN that would arrive into Lima at 4:30pm. That would be the ideal flight for us but am worried about all the comments regarding the planes being cancelled etc. Is it common? There are about 6 other flights after the 3pm flight so if they did cancel it we could hopefully get on another one...

Thanks for your help!